Ranking Every WWE Title Match At Royal Rumbles Worst To Best

7. Royal Rumble 1995 - Diesel Vs. Bret Hart

The Rock CM Punk
WWE.com

Having had an excellent Champion vs. Champion match - Bret Hart as WWF Champ, Diesel as IC Champ - at King of the Ring '94, the Hitman and Big Daddy Cool went and topped that with a stunning contest at the 1995 Royal Rumble.

By that point, Diesel was now the WWF Champion, with Hart challenging to reclaim a prize he'd lost to Bob Backlund.

At the time, this Rumble offering was handily Kevin Nash's best singles match in a WWF ring. With Big Sexy as the powerhouse babyface World Champ, and the Excellence of Execution as the dogged, scrappy babyface challenger, these two put on a fantastic bout as Hart was laser-focussed on taking out his larger opponent's legs.

For 25 of this contest's 27 minutes, it was sheer magic. Sadly, the ending somewhat tarnished the match, with interference from Owen Hart, Bob Backlund, Shawn Michaels, Jeff Jarrett and The Roadie causing the bout to be called off.

Completing a fantastic trilogy, Bret and Diesel would have another brilliant bout at the '95 Survivor Series, and they'd yet again put on stellar outing at In Your House: Rage in the Cage the following year. Many will claim that Shawn Michaels was Kevin Nash's greatest ever opponent, but upon revisiting the aforementioned matches against Bret Hart, it's tough to argue against the Calgary native as being the one to truly get the best out of Nash.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.